Customer Reviews

Deep Descent: Adventure and Death Diving the Andrea Doria

5 star:		(28)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great book about diving the Andrea Doria dealing mostly with the deaths that have occured and how they happened. If you have been around this type of diving for awhile you will recognize most of the people mentioned and quoted (Billy Deans, John Chatterton, Gary Gentile and so on). The deaths and the events leading up to them are described in graphic detail including several photos of the dead divers being recovered. Kevin McMurray goes into great detail in terms of analyzing the accidents including what boat they were diving on, who they were diving with, type of gas being used, type of equipment, the dive plan and such. No attempt was made to sugar coat the tragic events, just the hard details and facts with enough background information on each diver to help you better understand the complete picture.

This book was definetly not written for or about recreational diving. No single tank air dives on pretty tropical reefs and 82 degree water. This book is about hard core wreck divers pushing the limits in deep cold water with poor vis and strong currents.

If you enjoyed 'Last Dive' then you will surely like this book. I know that I couldn't put the book down.

Kevin McMurray gives readers a glimpse into the real-life adventures of divers who brave the cold, dark waters of the Atlantic to visit the wreck of the Andrea Doria. The author's research is sound, the information he presents on the physiology of hyperbaric medicine and technical diving techniques is accurate, and his portraits of the men and women whose lives and work are most identified with Doria diving seem fair and unbiased.

Comparisons between Deep Descent and Bernie Chowdhury's recent book The Last Dive are inevitable, since both cover the experiences of people who have lost their lives diving deep wrecks. In my opinion, McMurray's book is the more readable and his coverage of the technology associated with the sport are presented in a more organized (and less repetitive) way. Not that Chowdhury's book isn't good--simply keep in mind that reviewers who like it better than Deep Descent are expressing an opinion, not a truth.

Yes, there are several textual errors in McMurray's book that should have been noticed by the copy editor, but they are few in number and don't detract from the overall story. I thoroughly enjoy each book written by Doria pioneer Gary Gentile, despite the copy errors (in fact, I recommend Gentile's Andrea Doria: Dive to an Era for some truly gripping accounts of the author's own dives into the bowels of the great liner).

I can recommend Deep Descent without hesitation to every diver who has, or wants to, dive any shipwreck at any depth at any time. Sadly, some of the most valuable lessons for technical divers are learned by examining the fatal mistakes made by others.

I found Deep Descent to be good reading, albeit weaker technically than it should have been. The author states he has many years of experience, but the reality is, he has one year of experience, many times. He was NOT a very advanced diver, rather a diver with novice experiences, over many years. One picture in the book has a caption that explains we are looking at the data on a dive computer. Actually, it's not a computer, but a bottom timer. Apparently a minor distinction, but not to a true technical diver. Chowdhury's book is far better technically, in addition to being great reading. I can recommend Deep Descent, but I can't rave about it. Read it, but don't expect to be glued to it like you were to The Last Dive.

For those of us who will never witness a deep sea wreck, we can vicariously experience the rush of such an adventure through Kevin McMurray's engaging writing. As an eyewitness of the Andrea Doria shipwreck, the author pulls us into the depths and within the hull of the Grand Dame of the sea. His eyewitness descriptions, along with those of other divers, reveal the inner voices of master divers like no other diving accounts I have read. Mr. McMurray journalistic skills brings me on a sentimental descent without the risks of the "raptures" of the sea.

Pierette Domenica Simpson

She was once the pride of an entire nation. A post-WW2 Transatlantic Liner with the sort of beautiful lines which only Italy can produce. Launched in 1951 and completed in 1952, the Andrea Doria went into service in early 1953. She displaced 29,083 tons and measured 656*5 feet x 90*2 feet with a draught of 45*4 feet. There were 10 decks, 11 watertight compartments and accommodation for 1,241 passengers and 575 crew. She was powered by 2 turbine engines capable of generating 50,000 hp and fitted with 2 propellers both of which weighed 16 tons. She was completely fireproof and every last detail was one of supreme luxury. As the flagship of the entire Italian fleet, with her went the hopes and aspirations of her country as it emerged from the turmoil and confusion of those dark years of WW2.

On the evening of 25 July 1956 the Doria (as she will always be affectionately known) was approaching New York just as the Swedish Liner Stockholm was heading in the opposite direction. After a series of errors by the officer of the watch on board the Stockholm, it was almost midnight when the Andrea Doria was rammed by that ship which sliced deep into her starboard side. It was a mortal blow and, in a manner reminiscent of the loss of the Titanic, the point of impact could not have been in a worse place. As the Stockholm backed away a large deep gash was revealed through which the Atlantic Sea was already pouring. The Doria took on an immediate 30 degree list to starboard - a list which would slowly increase until she was finally lost. That inexorable process took over 11 hours and the Andrea Doria sank at 10:09 am 26 July 1956.

Today, the Andrea Doria will feature heavily on any scuba diver's list of top ten shipwrecks of the world. Fortunately for the ship, she rests at a depth of 235 feet (99M). I say "Fortunately" because that depth restricts the number of divers who have the necessary deep diving skills to visit such a wreck. Consequently, much of her collectable brass and other fittings will remain uncollected - simply because there isn't the time at that depth for divers to get to work. Unfortunately for many scuba divers who do insists on visiting this immense and very deep shipwreck, however, they appear intent on looting her contents and in this way this shipwreck continues to claim far too many lives. Some of those who have been lost to this wreck (not all of whom are mentioned in this book) were amongst the most qualified and experienced of scuba divers.

Deep Descent is a story of diving and looting this wreck and of some of those who lost their lives. It is not a story for the faint-hearted diver. It is, however, a cautionary tale for all scuba divers - from all over the world, whether they have any intention of diving this wreck or not. Whilst it is an excellent read, one cannot easily condone the underlying gung-ho attitudes of those involved.

NM

McMurray's book is a page-turner; good luck trying to put it down. This is the compelling tale of early diving on the Andrea Doria before the common availability of mixed gasses and advanced technical dive equipment for sport scuba. The divers in this book were (are) the "sea-gods", masters of their sport, and yet the Doria quest dragged several of them to their final doom. The book describes the challenges, techniques and tactics of attempting a trip down to the "Everest of Scuba Diving", how the quest has evolved with the sport over time, and what went wrong for those who failed to return from their voyage to the bottom of the Atlantic. The story is gripping, and the narrative is instructional without resorting to dull, textbook explanations of diving. A must read for any wreck diver.

I agree with several of the other reviewers with regard to the page-turning quality of this book. A fascinating, deadly, frightening, solemn, lesson-worthy book about scuba diving, its dangers and appeal. I am a scuba diver who is extremely conservative and would never dream of diving to the depth these people had to dive to bring up china and other artifacts from the sunken Andrea Doria. I am in awe of the bravery and expertise that it takes to do such a deep and complicated wreck dive, but I was also very well warned that, even the best divers, with hundreds of dives to their credit, ended up dead diving this wreck. The Andrea Doria has captured the imagination of many divers. It was heartbreaking and frightening to see how quickly good, practised divers lost their lives in their pursuit of "knicknacks". This book is a warning to all divers, and a can't-put-down read for everyone.

This book is most definitely required reading for divers at any level, but especially those who dive wrecks. It's been said that the Andrea Doria is the Mt. Everest for divers in terms of sheer difficulty and, based on the narratives in this book, I'm inclined to agree.

"Deep Descent" begs comparison to Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air". On the surface (heh), it's about a dangerous but unnecessary pastime. "Because it's there" would probably be a good motto for both the climbers and the divers.

McMurray's book really seems to have more in common with Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm", however, so unlike "Thin Air", the people involved do not become heroes, villains, and victims. "Deep Descent" is a vivid description of diving the famous 1956 wreck of the luxury liner Andrea Doria.

Like climbing Everest, diving the Doria can be a fatal adventure.

In addition to describing the history of the liner and dissecting the crash that sank her, McMurray takes an in-depth (heh) look at the fatalities from diving the wreck. He spends a lot of time detailing the personalities involved in the two main boats diving the wreck, and covers the feud that has divided the two boats for years.

One of the boats has a very bad streak, with five fatalities in two short seasons on the Doria. This is where the "Into Thin Air" comparision really comes into play. McMurray takes a very evenhanded approach, and his conclusion seems to be that the divers knew the dangers when they started out, and that the buck more or less stops there. He reprints the complete liability waivers for each boat as appendixes, just to drive home the point. (They are pretty specific about the hazards.)

Even so, in most of the fatalities there is an element of mystery. There are usually no witnesses, at best someone sees a diver swimming off in the wrong direction, never to return. When a body is recovered, it inevitably suffers post-mortem decompression damage that frustrates diagnosis. And the on-shore medical examiners involved don't have the expertise or inclination to really determine the cause of the diving fatalities dropped on their doorsteps.

As a diver, McMurray's book kind of makes me shake my head. While the feat of diving the Doria is impressive, particularly on compressed air in a plain old wetsuit as McMurray does on an early foray, the allure of cold deep dives with unpredictable currents is just lacking for me. The possibility of collecting a little bit of somewhat fancy china would not make it worthwhile for me.

McMurray more or lesses disses warm water divers on a couple of occassions, quoting remarks to the effect "you've seen one pretty fish, you've seen them all". So there is at least a whiff of macho BS here, but he seems to sensibly conclude that it's not worth getting killed for some 50-year-old china.

He also takes a cheap shot at "midwestern divers" when a diver from Ohio becomes a Doria casualty by suffering a heart attack on the surface before descending. McMurray is from NYC, so this kind of insular view is not too surprising, it's kind of like those people from Brooklyn who are so eager to tell outlanders "you talk funny".

While this book is well-written and easy going most of the way, there are a couple of glitches. For example, on page 10, McMurray gives a very confusing explanation of partial pressures as they relate to oxygen toxicity. I knew what he was talking about, but had to think about it a while before I understood how he was saying it. There are a few other cases where some technical jargon creeps in without explanation.

All in all, McMurray provides a fascinating description of both the experience of diving on the Andrea Doria, and the sociology of wreck diving on the northeast coast.

My response would be two words: Truk Lagoon. Lots of wrecks, but warm water and pretty fishes too. A moderately deep dive or two, such as the San Francisco Maru. You'll spend more getting there, but you'll save on the drysuits and trimix. And leave your goody bag home, you're discouraged from collecting any trophies, which is the way it should be. But then, I am just a warm-water diver from the midwest who likes to look at pretty fishes.

McMurray's book is a great historical contribution to diving history, but it lacks the EMOTIONAL IMPACT of Bernie Chowdhury's THE LAST DIVE. While factual and interesting, this book did NOT move me. I don't think this author's writing holds a candle to Bernie's book, even though McMurray is a professional writer and well-published author. I found the numerous typos, spelling errors and awkward writing very distracting. As a diver, I think about the lessons of THE LAST DIVE almost daily. McMurray's book is worth reading, but should have been better edited. I think the Doria's victims deserve better.

StrongDiver